Hotel managers in Strasbourg are being heavily criticised for increasing their prices when the European Parliament is in session. Their defence is that they are merely working with the laws of supply and demand. For them, a regulation of prices is absolutely out of the question. By the end of 2014, according to a study by Deloitte, their average income per room had increased by 9% in the high-end segment of the market in Strasbourg. “A price cartel would be…
Group purchasing?
To get around the hotel managers’ individual commercial policies, Trautmann is proposing nominating a single contractor that would purchase all necessary rooms for the EP’s twelve sessions on a basis of three nights a month. “The only solution is allotment. I have asked the EP’s administration to work on that solution,” the former MEP said. The task of managing such a purchase of services is unheard of, legally speaking. “The EP cannot be responsible,” said Patrick Geny, director of the tourism office in Strasbourg. Nor can the city of Strasbourg. Which leaves the possibility of a private third party specialised in business trips (a so-called travel management company), such as Carlson Wagonlit Travel or American Express. However, given the margin that such operators take, nothing guarantees that prices would be any lower.
